Name of suspect, charges released in stabbing of former Fall River mayor Will Flanagan

FALL RIVER – A city man is being held without bail pending a competency evaluation related to the violent stabbing of former city mayor Will Flanagan outside his Hartwell Avenue dispensary yesterday.

Corree K. Gonzales, 31, appeared in Fall River District Court Tuesday afternoon. District Court Judge Heath Antonio approved the evaluation which is expected to be conducted tomorrow morning.

An arraignment date is scheduled after the evaluation.

Bristol County Assistant District Attorney Jillian Kirsch requested and was granted that information on the investigation of the attack on Flanagan be impounded for 30 days.

Gonzales, who was represented by defense attorney James Vita, has a long criminal history. Most recently, Gonzales was arrested last spring on multiple counts of assault with a deadly weapon involving a knife and kidnapping. At one point in the case, Gonzales was ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation.

The case was dismissed in July.

Flanagan, 45, who served as the mayor of Fall River between January 2010 and December 2014 and one year of a third term before a recall election, was in serious but stable condition after being stabbed multiple times around 5 p.m. Monday

He is the co-owner of the Cosmopolitan dispensary, an attorney and former Bristol County assistant district attorney.

During the detainment, Gonzales allegedly assaulted Fall River Police Officers, resulting in his arrest and subsequent charges of Assault and Battery on a Police Officer (4 Counts).

Fall River police source describes video of savage attack on former Fall River mayor Will Flanagan